On the Issues

Jobs & the Economy

Melody supports investing in our future through infrastructure, education, and workforce development. She believes that by supporting working families so that they can put food on the table and manage rising costs we encourage local business growth in rural and urban communities. We need to focus on Main Street instead of Wall Street.
We should make the economy work for hard-working Tennesseans by closing corporate tax loopholes that benefit the extremely wealthy. We can support working families by increasing the minimum wage and investing in infrastructure including our bountiful clean energy industry in East Tennessee. By investing in education, research and infrastructure we will be investing in our job creators here in East Tennessee like the Oak Ridge Laboratory and TVA.

Healthcare

Melody believes every American should have access to quality health care and no one should go bankrupt just because they get sick. We should work within our current system to make premiums more affordable and lessen out-of-pocket expenses. Melody also believes states and local communities better serve their citizens by working together to promote the health and well-being of families rather than elite special interest groups. Standing together, we can make a health care system that helps Tennessee’s working families when they need it and gets out of their way when they don’t.

Veterans

Melody believes the best way to honor our veterans is to provide for them all the education, healthcare, and economic security they need to lead fulfilling, productive lives. It is unconscionable that there are homeless veterans in our great nation. Melody will fight for Veterans to have the benefits they need administered to them in a dignified manner.

Environment

Melody stands for working with farmers and cities to mitigate the effects of climate change, protecting America’s natural resources, and ensuring the quality of our air, water, and land for future generations. She is committed to sustainable solutions to protect our environment and grow our economy. Melody believes that investing in education and research we can help move the country forward towards cleaner energy and less pollutants in our backyards.

Student Loans

Melody believes that to achieve the American Dream, we must make college available and affordable to all who seek it. Currently, financial interests and their lobbyists have bullied Congress in to a system that preys on students and saddles them with insurmountable debt. Students should not have to literally mortgage their future if they are attending a public college. Repayment plans should be based on ability to pay, offer opportunities to refinance, and not merely trade tax debt for student debt if the loans are forgiven.

We need a Congress who will work for us and not profit off of us. Currently, both the Federal Government and the private loan administrators make billions of dollars of profit off of student debt. That is unconscionable. We must end profiteering off students and to do that we need a leader accountable to the people of Tennessee and not another lobbyist hack.